


A New Beginning

by widowshulk



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 10:23:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5662834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/widowshulk/pseuds/widowshulk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More than 2 years after the Hulk left the Avengers in Sokovia, Bruce Banner is returning the US and to Natasha, who is there to greet him at the airport.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Part of 52 Stories in 52 Weeks  
> ↳ Week 1: A story entitled “A New Beginning”

She was jittery; there was no other word for it. All those years of training, all that blood she’d spilled, and the thought of seeing one man was turning her into a pathetic mess. It was utterly unfathomable. 

Natasha parked the car and took a look at the time. 3:45. More than an hour to go. She gripped the wheel tight until her knuckles turned white, cursing herself for leaving so early. No point in sitting in the car, she decided, it’d only drive her mad. She stepped out, checking four times that the car was locked, and followed the ‘Arrivals’ signs. The airport was busy, but nowhere near as busy as she’d been anticipating, so she sighed silently in relief. There were a couple of cafes, so she chose the quietest looking one and ordered herself a cup of tea. 

She found an empty table in the corner and sat with her back to the people. If only he’d let her fly out to pick him up, maybe then she’d be less nervous. She’d be in control; she’d be able to distract herself with flying the jet, not sitting tapping her fingers impatiently on a dirty table. She checked the time again. 4:02. 58 more minutes until the flight landed. 

Her phone buzzed; a text from Stark: “You left without me? :(” Natasha rolled her eyes and typed back a reply: “You draw too much attention.” Wherever Stark went, all eyes were on him and Bruce didn’t need to come back to that kind of chaos. He needed to ease back into a normal life and Stark had never been one for normality. 

She checked the email for the fifteenth time today. She had the date, time, and airport correct, she reassured herself. She and Bruce had been exchanging emails for a few months now. After Hulk had taken off in Sokovia, there had been a few postcards from Bruce. They only ever read: “Still alive. Be safe.” They’d all been from obscure countries around the Indian Ocean, and she’d stuck them all on her fridge. She’d received 8 in total before the first email came. She could still remember the way her breath had caught when she’d seen the email in her inbox. It had taken her a couple of hours to open it; she’d wanted to wait until she was alone to properly process it. It had been a short email, “Natasha, I’m still alive, no need to worry. I hope you’re safe. I’m starting to understand how to really control the Other Guy, can you believe it? Wish you were here, Bruce.”

After that, emails came regularly, every week or so. He’d told her that he was living in Darwin, Australia. He lived in the city most of the time, working as a doctor to make ends meet, but every now and again he’d make the trip to the Outback to release Hulk. The only way to make peace with Hulk was to release him, to stop him from feeling so supressed by Bruce. It had taken Bruce months of trying different things before he’d come to this conclusion and even when he had, it took some time before Hulk started to trust Bruce. 

It had been more than 2 years since Hulk had fled in the quinjet, but Bruce was finally ready to come home, and he’d be here in just 37 minutes. 

Natasha finished her tea and made her way to the screens to check that there hadn’t been any delays, which thankfully there hadn’t. She made her way to the gate and looked around at all the other people waiting for someone. Standing among them, she realised how ordinary she was; just like the other people, waiting for a loved one to come home. Natasha had lived an extraordinary life, right from her very first days, but Bruce, the way she felt about him, it was the most extraordinary thing she’d ever known. 

Standing still, waiting around, it wasn’t helping with the jitters. She paced through the terminal a few times before checking the time again: 18 minutes. Pacing wasn’t helping. She needed a proper distraction, so she decided to treat being here like it was a mission. Watch the people, see who was behaving suspiciously, and try to guess everyone’s secrets. She was so wrapped up watching the people waiting that she almost missed it when the first couple of people started to come through the gate. The movement had caught in her periphery and she rushed straight to the gate, cursing herself for getting so distracted. 

About 100 people came through before Natasha started to worry; he was a nice guy, of course he’d let other people through before him. She started to wonder if something had happened at customs and he wasn’t allowed back in the country. She knew they’d squared everything with the government to ensure he was no longer a wanted man, but what if something had changed that? She started running a list of phone calls she was going to have to make when she caught a glimpse of dark, fluffy curls. Her breath caught and the jitters multiplied; her heart started to pound like she was finishing a marathon and she could feel her face getting flushed. 

She rolled her eyes at herself and took deep breaths to get herself back to normality; very glad that he hadn’t seen her yet. It only took a few seconds before Bruce caught her eye and he beamed, his whole face lit up with a smile brighter than Thor’s lightning. She couldn’t help returning his smile with her own.

He eased his way through the crowd of people, apologising to everyone, and then stopped slightly short of Natasha. She wondered if she should hug him, it seemed like the thing to do (everyone else in the airport was doing it), but she held back, unsure of herself. 

“Hi,” they said at the same.

They both laughed.

“Baggage claim?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah,” Bruce said.

They started to walk, both not sure of what to say to the other. They’d said so much in their emails, but being here in person made everything seem so much more complicated. She kept thinking about pushing him off the ledge, about betraying his trust. He’d forgiven her in their emails, but she still couldn’t help thinking that he must be holding some sort of a grudge against her for it.

“How was the flight?” she finally managed to ask.

“Not bad. Got a little rough over the Pacific.”

“Should have let me fly you home, would have saved you the rough patch.”

“You can’t control the weather, Natasha.”

“But I know a guy who can.”

Bruce laughed and stopped walking. The carousel was chugging along, but was completely empty, so they were going to be there a while.

“Tony hasn’t arranged a party or anything has he?” Bruce asked.

“Stark? Throw a party?” Natasha replied sarcastically. On a more serious note, she added, “No, I told him not to.”

“Thanks,” Bruce said with a smile.

Natasha smiled. “He’s excited you’re coming back. He’s been bouncing off the walls for days.”

“Sounds exhausting.”

“You have no idea.”

“So, how are you, Natasha?”

“Better. It’s nice to have you back.”

“It’s nice to be back.

“How are you?”

“Tired. How is sitting still on a plane, for hours at a time, so tiring?”

“You’re the scientist, you tell me.”

“Not really my specialty.”

\--

Within an hour they were pulling up to the Avengers facility and Natasha could feel Bruce’s nervousness radiating throughout the car. He’d been fine for the whole journey, talking about the team and the weather, and making all kinds of small talk, but now he was silent and wringing his hands.

Natasha stopped the car outside the facility, and looked at him.

“What’re you worried about?” she asked delicately.

“I don’t know… what if they can’t forgive me?”

“Forgive you for what?”

“Leaving.”

“They don’t need to forgive you, there’s nothing to forgive.”

“I was on the team and I was so selfish, I just abandoned you all.”

“You did what you needed to, they understand.”

“But what if-”

“Stop,” Natasha interrupted. She paused, trying to think of the right thing to say to him. “Do you trust me?”

Bruce nodded.

“Then trust that not a single person in that building blames you for leaving.”

“You’re sure?”

Natasha nodded.

“Okay.”

“C’mon, doc, let’s go,” Natasha said, opening her door and heading for the trunk.

They both grabbed a bag and turned to face the building. Even now, after he’d seemed to come around, Natasha could still feel Bruce’s worrying. His face was wrinkled into a grimace and he was fidgeting. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and tell him everything was going to be okay, but she wasn’t sure that would make him feel better; knowing Bruce he’d probably find even more to worry about.

Instead, she reached and took his hand and started to slowly walk towards the main door. She squeezed his hand, making sure not to do it too tightly like she’d been known to, and smiled at him.

“It’s a new beginning for you,” she said.

“A new beginning,” Bruce repeated with a nod.


End file.
